Soviet Invasion of Georgia

The 11th Red Army was to advance into Georgia on the pretext of supporting the “peasants and workers rebellion against the local Social-Democratic (Menshevik) government” in the country.

On February 11, 1921 Russian colonists settled in the district of Lorri. Demonstrations took place. On February 16 Bolsheviks set up a Georgian Revolutionary Committee (Georgian Revkom) that was to control “peasants and workers rebellion”.

In February 11, 1921 the Bolshevist Russian 11th Red Army started to annex Tbilisi. At the outskirts of the city the Russians were resisted by Georgian Army, the people’s Guard of Georgia and volunteers. In Kodzhori and Tabakhmela bitter fighting took place. The enemy couldn’t advance. The battle was becoming more and more bloody.

Independence of the DRG had been recognized by Russia in the May 7, 1920 treaty and the invasion of Georgia was not universally agreed upon in Moscow. It was largely engineered by two influential Georgia-born Soviet Russian officials – Joseph Stalin and Grigoriy (Sergo) Ordzhonikidze, who obtained, on February 14, 1921, a consent of the Soviet leader, Vladimir Lenin, to advance into Georgia on the pretext of supporting the "peasants and workers rebellion" in the country. The Soviet forces took the Georgian capital Tbilisi (then known as Tiflis to most non-Georgian speakers) after heavy fighting and declared the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic on February 25, 1921. The rest of the country was overrun within three weeks, but it was not until September 1924 that the Soviet rule was firmly established.